FAO chief economist: hunger is falling but too slowly; food-price spikes threaten gains

Maximo Torero, chief economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), on Thursday summarized key findings from the 2024 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report, saying "hunger is declining, but too slowly." Torero said about 673 million people were undernourished in 2024, with the prevalence of undernourishment falling to roughly 8.0% from 8.7% in 2022.

Torero told attendees the report shows broad and persistent food insecurity: about 2.3 billion people lacked regular access to adequate food in 2024, and roughly 2.6 billion people could not afford a healthy diet, down from about 2.9 billion in 2020. He said an estimated 28% of the global population was moderately or severely food insecure. "In terms of the nutrition targets, all of them are off track," Torero added, noting that none of the 2030 global nutrition targets are currently on course to be met.

The presentation highlighted food-price inflation as a major concern. Torero said global food inflation rose from about 2.3% in 2020 to 13.6% in 2023 and that a 10% increase in food prices could translate into about a 3.5% rise in the number of people in food insecurity. He stressed that food-price spikes have implications for political and macroeconomic stability as well as household food security.

Regional trends in the SOFI report are mixed, Torero said. Latin America and the Caribbean recorded the largest reduction in undernourishment (about 0.2 percentage points); Southern Asia declined by about 1.2 points; Asia by about 0.6 points; and Southeast Asia by about 0.3 points. He said subregions in Latin America showed the biggest reductions overall, while Africa showed a deterioration, with an increase of roughly 0.2 percentage points in levels of undernourishment. Projecting current trends to 2030, Torero said the world would still face around 511 million people with chronic undernourishment unless performance improves.

Torero described persistent inequalities: rural populations and women are disproportionately affected. He said price declines tend to occur more slowly in rural areas and that women face higher vulnerability because of lower incomes and greater reliance on purchased food.

The FAO economist outlined policy recommendations from the SOFI report. He called for "a more coordinated, informed, and restrained policy response," noting governments that avoided disruptive trade interventions and adopted better-targeted measures were less likely to worsen markets. He emphasized the need for market transparency and timely information, stronger coordination between fiscal and monetary institutions, and policy packages that balance immediate relief for the most vulnerable with structural reforms to reduce future price shocks.

In a brief question-and-answer session, Noreen Hussain, a journalist with IPS News, asked whether the SOFI report addresses the impact of overfishing on food security. Torero replied, "No. The report is focused, of course, on the indicators of undernourishment and nutrition that we do. We don't look, at availability of food supply." He said supply-side issues, including fisheries and aquaculture, are covered in separate FAO–OECD outlook publications that examine sectoral supply and demand statistics.

Torero concluded by urging faster progress to reach Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger) and by reiterating the report's central finding that, despite some regional improvements, current trends are insufficient to meet 2030 targets without stronger, coordinated action.